Apr 23
Bridge Collapse in Burma
My brother-in-law and his colleague brought this to my attention earlier this week. On April 15, 2008, the world’s oldest and longest (1.2 kilometers=0.75 miles=3,937 ft) wooden bridge in Mandalay collapsed after a lot of people walked on it for a Burmese New Year Festival. Here is some of the article from the Mizzima news article…
“The bridge collapsed because a lot of people were walking on it and besides, the bridge was very old. It broke in the middle. It is yet to be repaired,” a resident of Mandalay told Mizzima.
The bridge, the longest and oldest, built with pure teak wood without the use of any metal, is one of the best tourist attractions in Mandalay.
Since the bridge has not yet been repaired, it has become more difficult to cross the lake because it requires people to go around the lake to reach the other side, the local said.
The U Pein Bridge was built in the 18th century when the Innwa king transferred his palace to Amarapura and presented all his teak to the city mayor’s secretary U Pein. U Pein then built the bridge with the teak and it came to be known as the ‘U Pein Bridge’.
The U Pein Bridge, which is wonderfully built only with wood, was built with 1060 teak slats.
Look at the picture below, I have concerns about it already based on the pile to the bottom left of the picture.
Beautiful picture of the bridge at sunset. Click on the picture for a larger version.
